INVESTIGATIONS IN CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA. 37 



neighboring lake of Guija, from whicli but a few years ago some candlesticks of 

 silver were fished up. 



In Metapan I met with an Indian said to be over a hundred years old, who came 

 on foot from his home, over ten miles distant, to celebrate the Christmas holidavs. 

 Except his failing sight he had nothing to complain of, and felt quite hearty for 

 his age. His hair was quite black. In all my travels I never encountered a gray- 

 haired Indian. 



From Metapan I passed through the department of Chalatenango to the northern 

 part of that of San Salvador and entered the capital. On the wliole of this route 

 I heard of vestiges of the ancient population. In the village of Chicohueso I 

 received a small bust of burnt clay which was of sucli exquisite workmanship that 

 most persons would scarcely believe that it had been made by the aborigines, and 

 would have considered it as the liandiwork of a European, if it were not that the 

 present descendants of Europeans in this region are not able to produce sucli work. 

 The present native population, however, are still expert in dyeing vegetable fibres, 

 or reeds for the manufacture of hammocks, baskets, nettings, etc., and in manufac- 

 turing articles of clay, and also in decorating calabashes with drawings; but their 

 artistic skill is far inferior to that of their ancestors. 



Arriving in the village of Whuazapa, I was told that I had passed that very 

 noon a place called Siwhuatan, on the river Lerapa, remarkable for the many ruins 

 of foundation walls regularly laid out. The alcalde told me also of the existence 

 of ruins on his farm, where many human bones are found, which would indicate 

 an ancient burying-ground. Some miles distant from the village were also the ruins 

 indicating the streets of the former capital of the counti-y. 



The remaining department of the State of San Salvador, La Paz, which I visited 

 next, furnished similar evidences of ancient habitation. In respect of archaeology 

 it is not less interesting than the others ; my linguistic researches, however, were 

 a decided failure, the present inhabitants having nearly forgotten the language of 

 their ancestors. In every place visited I heard of the finding of pottery, figures 

 of clay, and sometimes sculptured stones, whenever any digging in the ground is 

 done; but I have seen scarcely any of these objects, as they were not preserved, 

 and mostly given to the children to play with, and then, of course, soon destroyed. 

 Nay, they are not even noticed or recognized as the work of tlie ancients. In the 

 yard of a house in San Juan Nonualco I found a low relief of a grotesque animal, 

 the owner being ignorant of its existence. In the same village I first heard of the 

 extensive ruins in the Llano de la Pal ma, about a mile distant from the villa "-e 

 Santiago Nanualco, which I afterwards visited. 



In that plain are the remains of foundation-walls reduced to the level of the 

 soil. They are constructed of small round stones laid together without any 

 imiting material. All the walls form squares twelve feet wide and from twenty to 

 twenty-four feet long. Some other walls were six feet and more above tlie ground 

 constructed in the shape of steps. They also surrounded a quadranglar space, of 

 which the width was less than the length. They were similarly constructed of 

 stones without any mortar or cement. It is said that these ruins, and others still 

 more conspicuous, cover an area of from six to nine miles long, bounded by two 



